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New Mexico farmers prep for irrigation season

ALBUQUERQUE - With the growing season approaching and the drought continuing to bear down on New Mexico, one of the state's major irrigation districts is getting ready to prime its canals.

Monday marks the start of irrigation season in the Middle Rio Grande Valley.

Hydrologist David Gensler says time is needed to charge the irrigation system and ensure all the canals, lateral channels and traditional acequias are running so the district's 11,000 farmers will be able to get water for their crops.

The state's irrigation districts depend heavily on snowpack in the northern mountains and runoff captured during monsoon season.

Snow has been scarce, but irrigation officials around the state say the watering season is looking more promising than in years past thanks to record rainfall that filled reservoirs last fall.